It is now the middle of winter and finally our first big snow of the year. I love posting the pictures with the snow outside. This jalapeno just turned 1 year old and I would say that it looks it. I just gave some of the older branches a good pruning to try and spur on some new growth. It was hitting the ceiling (literally). Compare it to the posts at 6 months in the summer. http://our.windowfarms.org/2011/07/23/jalapeno-spider-mites/ The leaves now are much smaller. I would think the temperature and less light are slowing it down. It is in a southern window with no extra light.

The plant is in a bay window and the shades get closed at night and I bet it gets into the 50′s F at night. I would guess that over the last 7 months or so I get about a pepper or two a week off of it on average. The first picture has two hanging on it. The older stems have stopped flowering and fruiting, but there is new growth and with the heavy pruning it is getting better. The second picture is a closed up of the new growth. You can see the original older stem and new spurs shot out not once but twice from the same node. The youngest one coming out to the far left is only a few weeks old. These newer spurs then start to flower.

The next plant I am trying are mini red sweet peppers. My wife loves to eat them and buys them from the store – Trader Joe’s. I figured that might work well in a window farm. I dried out some of the seeds and planted them. I have a couple of sprouts now with the first trues leaves coming in so we will see what happens. I’ll post pictures of its progress later when it is farther along.

Jalapeno & Snow

Jalapeno Closeup

Update 2/11/2012

This picture is about a month after a good pruning and you can see that is has responded really well with new branches and fruit.